How do banks in Ireland test payments based on Blockchain?

22 June 2018 8,775

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The largest banks in Ireland, such as Ulster Bank, Allied Irish Banks, PTSB and Deloitte, engaged in financial audit, are testing a new project of bank payments based on blockchain technology. Banks want to improve efficiency and security of transactions in such way.

The project of a new payment system is called Project GreenPay. It was developed by the Royal Bank of Scotland. Currently, blockchain technology is being tested for stability and productivity in Dogpatch Labs in Dublin. It was found that the blockchain platform is able to transfer significant payments faster than in 10 seconds.

“When we saw that RBS had that capability, we decided to use the platform in the Republic. It has the potential to disrupt multiple industries for the benefit of customers, and we’re determined to investigate how we can harness this for the financial sector,” [1] said Ulster Bank’s chief administrative officer, Ciarán Coyle.

Thanks to blockchain technology, banks want to improve and provide security of the financial system. Transaction stored in each block of the entire chain cannot be changed or deleted by third parties, which significantly increases the security of its conduct. At the same time, automated operations allow quickly transferring funds without the need for a centralized system. It is sufficient when the entire network accepts this transaction.

David Dalton,Deloitte’s financial services leader, said: “We believe blockchain adoption will happen more quickly than anticipated and without a proactive and well-adopted strategy, banks and insurers risk being locked out of potential innovations enabled by this technology.”[2]

Ireland is not the first country to implement blockchain technology in the financial sector. Earlier, for example, Dubai presented a payment platform based on a chain of blocks. Perhaps the introduction of this technology into the banking system will be a step that will help Ireland follow the path of Japan or Australia and become another country that recognizes bitcoin as an official and legal tender.